Kim and I just checked off a bucket list item, spending 7 days in Washington, DC, researching African American history. Here are our recommendations on travel, lodging, restaurants, and sites to plan your own trip to the nation’s capital.
If you go in the summer, be prepared for hot, muggy weather and potential downpours. We happened to be there while a heat dome sat over the East Coast. The heat was better than torrential downpours.
FOOD
Put this top of the list – a happy stomach makes for a happy traveler. Here are our recommendations. We prioritized seafood and soul food, by the way. Not on this list? Places that disappointed.
The Big Owl Tiki Bar – Nothing defines the Chesapeake Bay area like seafood – and there are lots of options for enjoying the bay’s bounty. We wanted affordable with great venue and discovered this spot on Maryland’s Eastern Shore just off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Dockside (boats were tying up by our table as we ate), this place is best enjoyed when the weather is nice. We had the Rockfish Tenders, fries, Bangin’ Shrimp, and Conch Fritters. We stopped by for lunch on our way to the Harriet Tubman Museum.
Henry’s Soul Café – The best catfish I’ve had in a long time, this tiny storefront is a take-out, with window bar seating for 4, near the Metro U Street Station. Henry E. Smith (King of Soul Food) opened in 1968. Kim and I shared a heaping plate of lightly-battered fried catfish, green beans, fried okra, cornbread, and their signature sweet potato pie, all for about $25 counting bottled water. After Henry died 6 years ago, his daughter kept it going.
Old Ebbitt Grill – We’d hoped for dinner here before a performance at the nearby National Theatre, but didn’t make reservations in time (highly recommended, whatever hour you go). Instead, we reserved a table for after the show. Well worth the visit, if just to see the décor in this historic establishment founded in 1856. The current site, “just steps from The White House,” offers a classic American cuisine ranging from freshly shucked oysters to house-made pastas, plus steaks and chops. As it was 10:30 pm and we didn’t want to miss the last train to our hotel, Kim had a spinach salad and I the amazing blueberry cobbler. Pricy, but delicious!
Sweet Home Café – When you visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture, enjoy lunch at this cafeteria-style eatery inside. Open only 11 am-3 pm, the café offers a range of dishes from African American traditions. We ate fried chicken, baked sweet potato, fresh fruit, and a slice of pecan pie.
Gordon Ramsey Fish & Chips – We wanted to check out the (trendy) Wharf, but in our price range. Can’t do better than this fast-food spot with your choice of sauces and a great venue along the Washington Channel of the Potomac. It was too hot to eat outside, so we took advantage of the indoor AC and free refills on drinks. Owned by a certain British celebrity chef, the fast-food restaurant also serves fried chicken and shrimp. We enjoyed the Fish Combo.
All-Purpose Pizzeria Capitol Riverfront DC – Our last night we settled for childhood memories (mine), eating Jersey-style pizza. With the Anacostia River and Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in view, the pizzeria is just outside the Nationals major league ballpark. Waitstaff said the name had to do with the kind of flour they use. Regardless, we chose well. With the heat, we ate inside by the window and shared The Standard Pizza (sauce and cheese only, with flavor “to die for,” and an order of Eggplant Parm ‘Jersey Style’ that almost brought this Jersey boy to tears. I highly recommend their Harney and Son’s Iced Tea.
Bonus: if you just want a good salad, check out the local chain, Chopt. Pricy, but big bowls. We went there instead of our first choice, the Pavilion Café, the day we visited the National Archives. Which sounded really cool, situated as the Pavilion Café is in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. But with the weather, both garden and café were closed.
LODGING
We wanted a relatively inexpensive, yet clean, quiet, and up-to-date hotel in the DC area, with free hot breakfast and close to a Metro station. The Holiday Inn Express Washington DC East-Andrews AFB, just.7 of a mile from the end of the Metro’s Green Line, was everything we wanted, including great customer service and pictures of Lincoln and Washington staring down at us in our room (creepy?). It also had shuttle service (8 am to 8 pm) which could get us to the Metro Station when it was too hot to walk. Did I mention great customer service? The best! Breakfast was ordinary, but it saved us $. Bonus, the hotel was adjacent to an Enterprise rental where we got a car for out-of-town travel.
TRANSPORTATION
We can’t say enough about the Washington Metro. For $60 a person, we got all around DC over a week’s time. They have a 7-day pass, but we needed transit access for 8 days. We put $60 in advance on the Metro’s SmarTrip app – easy scan for all subway and bus rides – and took our first ride straight from Reagan National Airport to within 15-minute’s walk of our hotel (could have called the hotel to pick us up from the Metro Station). We reversed that route back to the airport the morning we flew out. Clean, comfortable, efficient, on time, with courteous customer service. Oh, and all rides nicely air-conditioned!
VENUES
DC has so much to see, you could spend weeks. Having been there several times already, this trip was focused – African American history. Here are sites we highly recommend:
National Museum of African American History and Culture – the centerpiece of our trip. For $1 each, we reserved timed entry. We were there on Monday, when they open at Noon (10 am on other days) and close at 5:30. Rode the huge elevator to the bottom, 3 floors underground. The intentionally darkened bottom floor, covering AD 1400-1877, probably took half our time. Then we ramped to the next floor up, 1876-1968, which we covered fairly well. By then running out of time, we raced through the 3rd floor – 1968 and beyond. With other exhibits above ground, we could have spent another day. A part of the vast Smithsonian, I can’t say enough about this Museum.
National Monuments – We handpicked the Jefferson, Lincoln, and MLK memorials, walking a 3-mile loop from the L’Enfant Plaza Metro Station to the Smithsonian Metro Station. Enroute, we took in the Franklin Roosevelt, Korean War, and World War II Memorials, seeing the Washington Monument from just about everywhere. You could add the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which we’d already visited. If you don’t care for so much walking, there are other transportation options. While at the Lincoln Memorial, be sure to check out the landing on the steps where King gave his 1963 “I have a dream” speech. Walking back to the Metro, be sure to take in the stellar views along the reflecting pool – especially just after sunset.
Nomini Hall Plantation Cemetery and the Old Quarters Cemetery – Robert Carter III, a man beyond his time, freed more of his enslaved than any other person in US history. Westmoreland County, VA, is where you’ll find traces of his life, in stark contrast to the nearby birthplaces of James Monroe, George Washington, and Robert E. Lee. Best to contact the Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society (NNVHS). Kathy Schuder, NNHVS executive director, graciously prearranged access to these two cemeteries on private property. Lee Arnest, 8th generation descendent of Carter III and owner of the first cemetery, joined us. These delightful hosts showed us where Carter III lies in an unmarked grave, then took us to the other, nearby cemetery for former enslaved members of the Carter estate and their descendants. NNVHS is working to restore the Old Quarters Cemetery – 100 of an estimated 250 gravesites of former enslaved members of the Carter estate and their descendants (1730s-1930s) have been marked. Schedule your visit at nnvhs@live.com and consider donating to the NNVHS fund for the Preservation of Old Quarters Cemetery, still visited by descendants of the deceased.
Freedom House Museum – Currently under renovation, this city block was once site of one of the largest domestic slave trading companies in US history. I’ll write more later, but it is a sobering contrast to the legacy of Robert Carter III. You’ll find it in downtown Alexandria, VA, part of DC back in the day.
Harriet Tubman sites – Take US 50 across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Maryland’s slower-paced Eastern Shore. Start with the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park and Visitor Center in Dorchester County, then check out the various historical markers and sites of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. The museum eloquently tells Tubman’s compelling story of escape from enslavement and her rescue of scores of others. The Byway is a self-guided tour that ends in Philadelphia. With our limited time, we stopped at sites related to Tubman’s life in Maryland’s Dorchester and Caroline Counties, plus the William Still Interpretive Center.
Frederick Douglass National Historic Site – Douglass’ home the last 20 years of his life, it overlooks the Capitol across the Anacostia River. For $1, you can reserve a timed-entry guided tour of the house. Plan an hour here and see the world of Douglass, known as the greatest African American leader of the 19th century. Born into slavery near Tubman’s birthplace, he too escaped to freedom in the north, then became a spokesman, first for abolition and then for the rights of the newly freed. Catch the Metro’s Green line to the Anacostia Station.
St. Augustine Catholic Church – Founded by free and freed African Americans during the Civil War, the parish is known as the Mother Church of Black Catholics in the nation’s capital. The 12:30 mass, featuring the renowned St. Augustine Gospel Choir, is an awe-inspiring mashup of Catholic and African American traditions. Just a short walk from the U Street Metro Station. Feast at Henry’s Soul Café afterwards.
National Archives Museum, Supreme Court, US Capitol – The Museum is where you’ll find the Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. $1 timed entry reservations are recommended during peak tourist seasons. The Supreme Court building needs no reservation and the courtroom, where Brown v. Board of Education and other landmark cases were decided, is available for viewing when the Supreme Court is not using it. Though we’d been in the Capitol before, we wanted to see the Old Supreme Court Chamber (where the Dred Scott case was decided) and the Old Senate Chamber (where Plessy v. Ferguson was decided). There are lots of ways to take tours of the Capitol; we contacted our US Representative’s office for a delightful tour.
One more attraction that just happened to be in town was the Broadway musical, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations” at the historic National Theatre.
GUIDEBOOKS
I checked out several DC guidebooks from our public library here in Salem, Oregon. By far the best was Frommer’s Washington, D.C. Our library even had the current edition (2025).
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This trip was just half of our bucket list item. Soon, we hope to complete the second half – a Civil Rights tour of the Deep South from Memphis to Charleston. In a couple of years, maybe?
African American history has always had a way of stirring passions. Having researched this topic much of my life, I highly recommend a trip like this for all US citizens, young and old, regardless of your ethnicity. Few themes have defined our national identity as much as the Black American experience. If nothing else, take a full day and visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture – the dollar for timed entry will be well spent.
Check out two posts I’ve already written related to this trip: Robert Carter III lived out what he believed: a prophet in deed and All We the People. More to come. Subscribe for free here to receive new posts directly to your email inbox. Maybe I should write another book?
Planning your own trip? Feel free to write me at Contact Us! with your questions.
Photos: Kim & me at The Big Owl, the National Museum of African American History and Culture (and Sweet Home Café) with the Washington Monument behind and me in front, Lincoln Memorial, and the MLK Memorial. (Can’t see the photos because you are reading this in your email? Click on “View this post” below.)